1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer architecture and, more specifically, to methods and systems for resetting the service processor in a data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
Some systems, such as the RS/6000, a product of the International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., offer a service processor that is a shared resource within the data processing system. The service processor provides vital monitoring to the operating system. However, in existing systems, if the host operating system experiences a communication failure with the service processor, there is no recovery mechanism for the host to recover communications with the service processor. Thus, the host operating system must choose between either continuing to operate without vital monitoring performed by the service processor or shutting down or terminating system operations. Neither of these options is very satisfying.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method, system, and apparatus for reestablish communications between the host operating system and the service processor in a manner that does not interfere with the operation of the host operating system.
The present invention provides a method, system, and apparatus for reestablishing communications between a host and a service processor after the service processor has ceased to function correctly. In one embodiment, the host exchanges heartbeat signals with the service processor. The heartbeat signals indicate that the service processor is active and functioning. In response to a failure to receive a heartbeat signal or in response to some other indication that the service processor is not performing correctly, the host causes a hard reset of the service processor. In addition, the service processor can detect a failure within itself and initiate a hard reset to itself. After the hard reset, the service processor returns to a monitoring mode without performing initial interrogation and testing of the data processing system. The interrogation and testing would be destructive to the running state of the system. Furthermore, the data processing system remains active and is not shut down during the hard reset of the service processor.